Roasted Beet, Quinoa, and Carrot Salad

This roasted beet, quinoa, and carrot salad is packed with healthy and good-for-you ingredients! It’s super flavorful and has the best lemon dressing!

Once you’ve gotten HOOKED on this salad, be sure to try these other popular salad recipes: Thai quinoa salad, honey lime quinoa salad, or this fruity quinoa salad.

Roasted Beet, Quinoa, and Carrot Salad

Hey everyone! It’s Chelsea back from Chelsea’s Messy Apron with delicious salad recipe to share! As we’re approaching summer, this is a salad recipe you’ll want to have handy! As summer approaches, I’m always ready to eat a bit more seasonally with all the fresh produce available! This salad is the perfect way to use that produce!

After a heavy meal or a few days of eating less healthy than you might like, this is the perfect salad to get you back on track and make you feel great.

How to Make this Roasted Beet, Quinoa, and Carrot Salad:

• Start by cooking your quinoa to have enough time to cool! I wrote an entire guide on how to cook quinoa that I’d recommend giving a look through if you’ve never made quinoa before.
• Next roast the vegetables: I recommend at 425 degree Fahrenheit for perfectly crisp and caramelized veggies!
• Make the dressing: simply shake together a few ingredients for an incredible lemon dressing!
• Toss: add everything together, toss, and ENJOY!

Health Benefits for eating this salad:

• Root veggies (beets and carrots) help regulate blood sugar levels in the body, which is especially important if you have type 2 diabetes. They also are very high in fiber, vitamin B, vitamin C, and antioxidants.
• Quinoa is very nutritious —it’s full of fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. From purely a calorie perspective: one cup of cooked quinoa has approximately 40 fewer calories than an equal amount of white rice.
• Lemon (in the dressing): this citrus is linked to being helpful in preventing anemia and kidney stones. It’s also theorized to help with weight control and improving digestive health
• Almonds: these nuts are packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein.

Tips for this recipe:

1. Rinse the quinoa. Quinoa has a bitter saponin coating so you’ll want to rinse it before preparing it. I like to pour the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and rinse it quickly. I also typically cook quinoa in chicken or vegetable broth to infuse it with more flavor.
2. Try some different variations: pretty much whatever veggies you like will work great in this salad. We love these honey balsamic mushrooms, roasted brussel sprouts, or these parmesan garlic zucchini spears.
3. Only add dressing to what you plan on eating in the same day. Unfortunately this quinoa salad doesn’t sit very well with the dressing mixed into it. If you aren’t planning on eating the whole salad at one sitting, toss only what you’ll being eating on day 1 with the dressing. If you keep the dressing separate this salad can store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
4. Use a LARGE sheet pan: The more space the veggies have (aka the less crowded they are) the better they roast. When carrots/beets are overlapping or jammed into a sheet pan, they end up steaming instead of roasting which greatly affects the end taste/texture.
5. Add some meat. This salad is vegetarian by default, but it’s perfectly acceptable to grill some chicken (we LOVE this grilled chicken marinade) to serve on the side or to chop up and put on top of the salad. You also could grill up some steak (steak marinade recipe here) and thinly slice it across the grain and add it to this salad.

More Quinoa for you to enjoy:

• Quinoa Black Bean Salad
• Quinoa Fried Rice
• Winter Pomegranate Orange Quinoa Salad 
• Healthy Quinoa & Veggie Salad
• Quinoa Salad (With Avocado)

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Roasted beet, quinoa, and carrot salad

5 from 1 vote

By: Chelsea Lords

This roasted beet, quinoa, and carrot salad is packed with healthy and good-for-you ingredients! It's super flavorful and has the best lemon dressing!

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

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Ingredients 

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• ▢ 1 pound medium beets, peeled and cut into 1-inch wedges
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil for beets
• ▢ ½ pound medium carrots 2-3 medium carrots
• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil for carrots
• ▢ fine sea salt to taste
• ▢ ground black pepper to taste
• ▢ 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• ▢ 2 cups water
• ▢ 4 ounces mixed greens lettuce about 1 cup
• ▢ ⅓ cup honey roasted sliced almonds
• ▢ ⅓ cup crumbled goat cheese

Lemon Vinaigrette

• ▢ ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• ▢ 1 ½ tablespoons dijon mustard
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• ▢ ½ cup olive oil
• ▢ 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice juice of about 1 large lemon

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Toss 1 pound medium beets, peeled and cut into 1-inch wedges in a bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Arrange on one half of a large baking sheet.
• Toss ½ pound medium carrots in a bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil and arrange on the other sideof the baking sheet. Season the beets and carrots with fine sea salt and ground black pepper. Roast for 30-35 minutes until tender.
• Meanwhile, prepare the quinoa by rinsing 1 cup uncooked quinoa in a fine mesh sieve to remove the bitter coating. Combine the quinoa with 2 cups water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes or until the water has been completely absorbed by the quinoa.
• Turn off the heat and let the quinoa stand covered for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the lid and fluff the quinoa gently with a fork. Set aside until it is completely cool.
• Meanwhile, prep the lemon vinaigrette by whisking ¼ cup red wine vinegar, 1 ½ tablespoons dijon mustard, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried basil, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, and ½ teaspoon or so fine sea salt in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the ½ cup olive oil and 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice. Cover and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.
• Toss the cooled quinoa and 4 ounces mixed greens lettuce in a large bowl. Add the roasted beets and carrots, then top with ⅓ cup honey roasted sliced almonds and ⅓ cup crumbled goat cheese.
• Pour as much of the dressing as you'd like over the salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately.
• If you plan to serve this salad later, hold the dressing on the side until just before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 463kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 10gFat: 34gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 22gTrans Fat: 0.002gCholesterol: 6mgSodium: 182mgPotassium: 640mgFiber: 7gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 6576IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 94mgIron: 3mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!